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Dusty but devoted, Coachella crowds turn out in Indio

The polo fields were dusty and windy, but tens of thousands of skimpily-clad music lovers braved the dirt at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to get a glimpse of their favorite indie musicians.

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INDIO, Calif. — The polo fields were dusty and windy, but tens of thousands of skimpily clad music lovers braved the dirt at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to get a glimpse of their favorite indie musicians (and those performers' celebrity fans).

A few high points from the first weekend, which repeats April 19-21 with the same lineup:

Phoenix takes flight: French alt-rock foursome Phoenix, who are among this year's headliners, have grown accustomed to Coachella, but things didn't start off smoothly. "Our first Coachella in 2006 was our worst show," vocalist Thomas Mars remembers. "We didn't know the desert. We are French, we have 220 volts, here it's 110, so nothing worked onstage — a fire started. It's a tough festival to play for young bands." The band redeemed themselves with a strong performance in 2010, which Mars counts among their best shows.

How would he describe the band's music? "I wouldn't put it in one specific genre," he says. "We grew up in Versailles, and there was only one good record store, so we embraced everything. I would pick up albums more for their covers than their genres. So I remember when our first album came out, my grandma wanted to buy it, she went to the store and couldn't find it. One day it was under 'International,' the next 'Pop,' one day it was 'Electronic.' So we were everywhere but nowhere at the same time. Still, I was happy to not be doing dubstep in 136 bpm in the key of G or something like that. Eventually, when you have many albums, it's a lot easier for people to understand."

Batty for Bugg: In describing his set, 19-year-old Jake Bugg responds with characteristic nonchalance, "I was surprised people came out, actually." The up-and-coming Nottingham native concedes that while he isn't very well-known yet in the States, back home in England, where his self-titled album reached No. 1, his fan base is much more rambunctious. "I did a gig and there were maybe like 50 girls screaming outside the tour bus trying to grab me. The whole time I was just thinking, 'What's their intention if they do manage to grab hold of me?' "

"But it's fantastic," he says. "If I wasn't doing this, I honestly couldn't tell you what I'd be doing. This is all I've ever wanted to do. I never actually thought I would do it., but I dreamt about it so much, I ran it over in my head so many times, it's kind of all I know, really."

xx-tra introverted: "In my mind, I only really exist on the Internet, so there aren't really into any intrusions into my personal life at home in England," says bassist Oliver Sim of publicity-shy London band The xx. "In a way, I don't treat this like real life. We're in a day and age where if I wanted to find out your favorite pop star's pet's name, you could Google it in 30 seconds."

Sim, who counts bandmates Romy Madley Croft and Jamie Smith among his oldest friends, says, "The biggest misconception of us as a band is that we're deeply depressed introverts who come offstage and cry in our dressing rooms. I smile! Our first promo pictures, we were 18, and any 18-year-old having their picture taken is going to look a bit frowny. But there's so much to be happy about!"

This summer, the band is organizing its own day-long festival, Night and Day, in Portugal and then Berlin, featuring a closely curated collection of acts. "We're organizing everything down to the food and drinks sold. It's fun. It's safe to say we're control freaks, and this festival is exactly what we wanted for a long time."

Tegan and Sara, happy to share the spotlight: "We're Canadian, so we try to be easygoing," says identical-twin duo Tegan and Sara of their approach to festivals. The Quin twins, who formed their eponymous band in 1995 at age 15, will play their third Coachella before embarking on a 2½-month tour this summer with We Are Young singers fun. The duo also recorded a cover of Fool to Cry for the soundtrack of HBO's Girls, whose creator and star Lena Dunham is the girlfriend of fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff. "You know, the first time that we played Coachella, Arcade Fire had just released The Funeral and this was about to be the biggest thing in the universe," Tegan says. "We were playing right before them and it was great but all I could think was, 'We HAVE to get off stage so Arcade Fire can play!' I felt like they were the most important thing, like ' Let's not take up any extra time, so they can get right on!' Sure enough, it was a pretty monumental amazing performance for them."

A punk-folk mishap: "If a punk band and a folk band got into a bus accident, that'd be our sound," explains Al Barr, lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys. Although the band has been together for 17 years, this weekend marked the group's first Coachella performance. "We're like the band that moves in next door and your lawn dies," he jokes. "We had to fool people to letting us in here, but here we are, 30 years later, joke's on us!"

Dropkick Murphys takes its name from an alcohol rehabilitation center with a storied history. "In the first years of the band, when only our friends would wear our shirts, they'd be walking around the beach in the summertime and some old-timer would come up to them and (ask) 'Where did you get that shirt?!' and they'd be like, 'You've heard of the band?' and they'd be like, 'The band? No, my father would always threaten us that if we didn't we didn't behave ourselves, he'd take us to Dropkick Murphy's!'"

While the band has achieved many milestones, "to be able to walk on stage every day and have people in front of it, singing the words you've written or co-written back at you, that's an amazing feeling. That's what kind of propels us along and keeps us going."

It was no surprise that the band sang I'm Shipping Up to Boston as its penultimate number. That has become a theme song for Boston sports teams and was used in the Boston-based film The Departed. Still, the closing number might have surprised some people. It was Dirty Deeds Done Cheap by that famous Celtic band from Down Under: AC/DC.

Unhappy about the rays: As Liverpool natives, indie-rock trio The Wombats are no strangers to rain, but they don't take as kindly to the sun. "We were in a tent, which was fortunate, because it was midday. But if we were outside, we wouldn't be here," says The Wombats percussionist Dan Haggis. "We would have disintegrated into a pile of ash!" jokes lead singer Matthew Murphy.

The three are currently at work on a third album. "We're pretty much finished, (but) I guess we're going to keep going until we feel things are ready. We want to make the best album we can, so we're going to take the time. But hopefully it will be out some time next year," Haggis says. The band's running joke is that they hope to market the new album with an accompanying fragrance. "We figure if Lady Gaga can do it, why shouldn't we?"

Sweet baby James: Continuing the tradition of Beatles' offspring playing Coachella, James McCartney performed a short acoustic set in the Gobi tent Friday afternoon. Sir Paul's son opened with a song called Mexico, showcasing impressive finger-picking technique. Dressed in black, the younger McCartney's set had a somber but hopeful tone, including the originals Life's a Pill, Butterfly and Wysteria. A cover of Neil Young's classic Old Man could have been a conversation with his famous father. McCartney closed his performance with the more upbeat Thinkin' About Rock 'n' Roll.

A major crowd: Major Lazer opened his Saturday set to a huge crowd equipped with dancers and hype men. Originally a duo consisting of Diplo and Switch, Major Lazer's crew tossed swag and surfed people in a giant balloon. Now just Diplo, the reggae, dancehall, etc., DJ spun to one of the largest tent crowds.

2 Crowded: Pairing artists with the right venue and time slot is, well, an art that Coachella promoter Goldenvoice has pretty much perfected. But sometimes even they underestimate the interest in a performer. Such was the case for hip-hop star 2 Chainz's Saturday afternoon set in the Mojave Tent. By the time the Georgia rapper took the stage (20 minutes late), the crowd has spilled over onto the polo field in anticipation of such hits as No Lie, Birthday Song and I'm Different. The booming beats and Southern-tinged flow could be heard in the neighboring Gobi tent and beyond.

Say yeah: Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs is one of those bands that just feels right on a big stage. The group's long list of fan favorites kept the crowd pumped. A gospel choir backed opener Sacrilege; energetic Zero had even passersby bouncing. And from afar, Karen O's voice oddly rang out above the crowd, carrying the pulsing lights and dance beats — and that's a good thing. (But it was worth getting closer to check out her flashy attire and makeup.) Closing out the show with Gold Lion, Maps and overtime Heads Will Roll, it was hard to walk away.

Straddling sets: When Of Monsters and Men finished its current hit Mountain Song at the Outdoor Theatre just before sundown Friday, fans began migrating to the main stage to catch Passion Pit, who have two radio hits in Carried Away and Take a Walk. Many of them ran back to the outdoor stage when Of Monsters and Men played biggest hit, Little Talks.